The Return
by RavenSara84
Summary: Yugi never expected to see the evil Bakura again, but he was back, in his own body and on his doorstep, all because the Egyptian God's felt he needed to have another go at living. But why him of all people?
1. Chapter 1

Yugi had opened the door, having expected a delivery to arrive for the shop, what he didn't expect was to see his former enemy standing in front of him and very much _alive_.

This was the man who had tried so hard to kill someone that he considered like a older brother, his _best friend_. Now here he was, standing in front of him with a grin, and in his own body like he had been in the Memory World; dark skin, greyish eyes, the grey hair and of course the scars under his eye.

He just stared at him, before he finally gathered his wits; "How are you here? The Pharaoh _destroyed_ Zorc!" He exclaimed, wondering for a moment if perhaps this was a dream, most likely a nightmare, but considering everything he and his friends had gone through since Pharaoh Atem entered their lives, he doubted it, it didn't matter how wild something might seem, chances were it was true.

The ancient Egyptian chuckled, which made Yugi shiver with fear as he didn't have Atem to help him now; "Did he? Or, did he destroy everything negative that was _affected_ and that created Zorc to begin with? Which was the reason why Zorc had to cling to me?"

Yugi was caught off guard with that, he _never_ considered that before, yet he was still worried about this; "So you are saying that you have a second chance? But… why here?" As far as he was concerned there was no real reason for the evil Bakura to be here, they had been enemies before after all… at least in part, if what he was being told was true.

"Because…" He grimaced as he fought to get the words out; "You are _kind_ ,"

The pair just stared at each other, Yugi couldn't believe _this_ , regardless of all the adventures he had gone through with the other's, this was something completely different. He spotted that the evil Bakura looked rather agitated and restless as he waited for a reply of some sort, but Yugi just couldn't understand it; "Why me? Why not Tea or…" He scrambled for another name, but the only one he could have come up with would have been _Ryou Bakura_ , and he was certain that the other teen wouldn't wish to have _anything_ to do with the evil spirit, not after what he had put him through before.

"Tea _can_ be kind, but she has her moments. Besides would it really have been fair if I had been sent to her?" He questioned Yugi, who had to admit that was a fair point, and he was well aware that Tea also had her faults, but it also raised another point.

"But no one is completely kind,"

The man nodded in agreement; "Indeed, but _they_ , decided that you overcame many of the challenges that Atem had created,"

Yugi almost questioned that, until he realised that is was probably in relation to when he had brought Atem to the modern world, when he wasn't exactly as sane as he had been later, and then their was his Puzzle, just walking around his vast soul room was a hazard.

"Wait, they think that because I managed to deal with him that I would be able to deal with you?" Now Yugi felt like _they_ , who he figured must have been the actual Egyptian God's, were just being mean, _if_ he was telling the truth. Besides the relationship he had with Atem was different, they had grown to become friends, brothers even, while the evil Bakura was forceful, blocking the other Bakura out.

"I have learned that he was worse than I was when he first became free from containment in the Puzzle," As he said it, it was clear that he didn't believe it, and if Yugi _hadn't_ have gone through it all with Atem, he'd have felt the same way.

Instead of arguing with him, Yugi just rubbed his head; "Did you _actually_ agree to do this?"

" _No_ , but that doesn't matter to _them_. They told me that I was to relive my life, _without_ the influence of Zorc to cloud my mind. I can make any and all decisions _myself_ , but they wanted to have someone _oversee_ me to begin with," He shrugged his shoulders at that, like he didn't understand their reasons for doing so, but Yugi could.

 _They_ probably knew that Bakura would just go back to a life of crime, as he had back in Ancient times, rendering everything they had tried to do useless, but there was something else that made Yugi wonder about this; "Just to begin with?" He was suspicious about that, what was 'to begin with'? Was there a time line? However if he was stuck with him there was one other thing he had to learn; "What do I call you?" He _hoped_ it wasn't going to be Bakura, he didn't want to distance himself from Ryou now.

He tilted his head at the shorter teen, then with a grin he spoke; "Akefia,"

Yugi blinked, thinking back over to the Memory World, where he and his friends, even Atem had all faced the thief king; "You never corrected us on your name!"

Akefia scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes; "Of course not. In Ancient times telling someone your name was to gain _power_ over them. You saw what went on there, if you had an enemies name, you would have the _power_ to place a curse or any number of spells on your enemies,"

Now Yugi noticed that although he still seemed agitated, he also seemed weary and…. unsure? He wasn't sure if he had ever seen Akefia look unsure outside of duelling Atem, so what was he worried about?

"So you have to stay here?"

"What did I just say? What did we just talk about?" He snapped, it was clear that Akefia wasn't amused about this situation any more than Yugi was.

"It's just…" Yugi began, he would have to speak to his grandpa about this and then try to figure out _how_ Akefia could contribute to the household; "Joey and the other's will see you at some point,"

Now they both had roughly the same thoughts; Joey and Tristan would make threats, although they would be empty one's, though Akefia was not going to allow _anyone_ to threaten him. He had shown them that he could deal with them without the use of Shadow Magic and he would be more than happy to repeat the process again if he had to.

"Simple, I just won't be here when they are,"

It did sound simple, but Yugi already knew that it wouldn't be the case, though he couldn't talk about Joey's private matters, yet Akefia would need to know _why_ his plan wouldn't work.

Akefia watched the teen look pensive, knowing roughly what he was thinking; "I already know about Joey's _situation_ with his father. Ryou might not be regarded as a close friend, but he knew about that,"

Yugi didn't expect that, no one in the group ever spoke about Joey's father situation in front of anyone, as far as he was aware, but the fact that Ryou _knew_ about it, meant that perhaps if Joey and Tristan spoke about it then they might not have been as careful as they were when they were with the other's. He did feel bad for Ryou, but with him being possessed by the spirit of the Ring so often, the other's kept him away out of fear.

Akefia smirked; "Joey is loud, Ryou overheard him _ranting_ a few times in regards to his father. Of course he kept quiet about it, since it was personal information," He did give him a sharp look, as if telling him off for keeping Ryou away from the group of friends; "Although many of the students of that school already knew about, they all knew to keep quiet about it. He should consider himself lucky that _Ishtar_ didn't learn about it,"

Strangely enough Yugi felt guilty, if they had let Ryou into their group of friends, they probably would have noticed when Akefia was in control and then he realised what the Egyptian had just said; "Wait, hang on if Ryou knew and you _obviously_ knew, why didn't _you_ use that information?"

It was odd to see the grey haired man before him look conflicted, as if figuring out if he should tell the truth or not before he came to a resolution; "Because I have… _had_ my own personal code. Not even _Zorc_ could override something like that," He looked down at Yugi, daring him to say anything about that.

He frowned; "Your own personal code?" It was something that he wanted to hear more about, because in the Memory World he had seen _nothing_ that could be regarded as a personal code, unless it was a short one.

"We can discuss that later," Akefia look down at his own clothing, and was thankful that he had returned to his own body, with _modern_ clothes, although he did still get to wear the gold from his previous life; "I suppose these will do for just now," He commented off handedly.

Yugi looked at the clothes he was wearing, although he knew the other would need to go out and buy his own clothing, it wasn't like he could borrow _his_ clothing; "Well you could help Grandpa with the shop," He decided to suggest, after all it would help Akefia earn some money though once he said that the other man bristled, which was when he remembered that his grandfather had been a _Priest_ in the past; "You know he's not against you,"

Those stormy grey eyes looked at him with certainty; "I'm a thief, that is what I do best," He stated, as if Yugi should have known better than to even _suggest_ such an idea.

"Really? Because from what I have seen," Yugi felt that gaze become sharp and he did his best to not let it get to him; "You are a brilliant Duelest, Bakura… Er… Ryou admitted that he was never overly interested in the game, and that his deck had never really been built for anything other than just having it. But you _created it_ , you had myself _and_ Atem on the run so many times,"

It was clearly the right thing to say, as Akefia felt that praise reach him, his gaze on Yugi relaxed which let him breath a little bit easier; "Regardless, you can't expect me to simply stay in a shop and just work my life away, where is the _fun_ in that?"

"Huh, is it because you don't know how to work in a shop? Or are you intimidated?" It was an innocent enough question, but the moment those words left his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. This was _Akefia_ , formerly part of the entity known as the evil Bakura, but he was surprised that he didn't snap at him, instead he just looked rather confused, as if he didn't understand what Yugi was up to.

" _Centuries._ I have been a thief for _centuries._ Do you think I could just wipe away what I am so easily? Like I was never a thief? Regardless of what _they_ want from me, I will _never_ give up on being that," He sounded so angry, yet Yugi was certain he heard a distressed toned in his voice.

He did agree with Akefia though, it would be asking too much when he had been a thief for so long; "So how about if you work a few times a week and then you could…" He trailed off, realising what he was essentially giving his permission for Akefia to do.

"Steal?" He smiled, getting the humour out of the situation when he noticed how Yugi was blushing at his mistake.

"But only from the rich…" His blush became deeper when he realised exactly what he was suggesting.

"Then give to the poor?" Akefia cackled; "You think I will become Domino's own Robin Hood?" He laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall to keep his balance.

Yugi smiled; "Wouldn't you have wished for someone to have helped you?" He realised that this would be a sore point, after all Akefia's hurt, hatred and loneliness had been the reason how Zorc had remained around for so long, it would be too easy for him to lash out.

"I _had_ help," He stated, looking carefully at Yugi, no longer laughing, but remained leaning against the wall by the door.

"Until Zorc took over,"

Akefia didn't reply sharply, instead he looked rather thoughtful; "No one would have helped a child from Kul Elna. It resided on the outskirts of Egypt,"

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't…" He realised that he hadn't been aware of where Akefia's home was, of how far away from other's it had been.

Akefia's laugh was bitter; "Of course you didn't know, the Shadow Game separated you from the Pharaoh, you didn't have his thoughts in your mind to share," He shook his head; "Not that it matters now, they are all gone,"

Yugi wanted to say something more, but they were interrupted by his grandfather, who looked startled to see the Egyptian at the door, but he had no inkling as to who he actually was. Which to Yugi it was just as well, because he was able to come up with a quick lie as to who he was, not a completely lie though, he would never want to give his grandfather an outright lie. However he didn't want his grandfather to know that this had been the evil Bakura, the one who had tried to kill him. Instead he told him how the man was a former spirit of a Millennium Item and had been given a second chance at life.

Though as Yugi thought about it when his Grandpa greeted Akefia warmly and invited him in, wasn't that _also_ the truth?


	2. Chapter 2

In the evening, after a lot of discussion, mainly Yugi and his Grandfather, Akefia found himself being led to a spare room to sleep in for the night. He was given some towels should he wish to have a shower before he went to sleep, or in the morning before breakfast, as Yugi wished him goodnight the former thief king couldn't help but feel relieved that this was working out rather well. So far.

He was grateful for what the Mutoes were doing for him, although when Yugi's _friends_ learnt about this new arrangement, they were _very_ vocal in their disapproval and disbelief of him and his reasons of being in this household.

It was mainly Joey and Tristan who were loud of their dislike of him; not that he could blame them, particularly with Tristan, he had taken over _his_ body too; but he was fully aware that it was his former host, little, quiet, _innocent_ Ryou Bakura who was uncomfortable around him, nervously watching him and then looking away again, trying to hide in the background, to be a wallflower, which wasn't the point of being around Yugi and his friends. It wasn't something Akefia was used to, this _emotion_ was fairly new, although he figured that _maybe_ he felt it back in Ancient Egypt, there was no way he could not have, bit he felt _guilt_ now that Ryou wasn't fully involved in his friends. There was nothing to fear, not really, but Ryou had a lot of experience of _him_ taking over his body, he knew how dangerous he was.

 _Does he_? Akefia wondered to himself, keeping his distance from the group as they talked, Tristan's eyes glancing over at him every so often, while Ryou didn't seem too invested in the conversation that was going on around him. The only problem was that he currently was _living_ with the Mutoes, so he would _have_ to see this group often, but it wasn't _fair_ on Ryou to miss out on…

 _Miss out on having friendships?_ Akefia thought to himself and looking at the quiet boy with a frown, he could ignore that sharp looks he got from Joey and Tristan, it didn't bother him, he had proven a few times that he could deal with them easily, but Ryou was another matter all together.

The only person of this group of oddball friends who didn't seem to wish him to leave and never return to Domino was Tea.

"I think Yugi is right. You just need to find out who you are _without_ Zorc," She looked right at him, into those dull violet eyes, there was no fear about her, nothing that would suggest that she was nervous around him and Akefia had to hand it to her, she had more guts than the majority of people he had ever met, past and present. However it didn't take away from the fact that he had been the one to threaten her friends, he was the one who could have and _would have_ killed her friends just to gain _power_ to destroy the Pharaoh, and in the end with Zorc having taken over, corrupting him, he would have destroyed the world.

"Tea, are ya feeling all right?" Joey asked, staring over at her in confusion, but he didn't move over to them, he was still uncertain of Akefia, he never kept quiet about it should the former thief be around in ear shot, and his brown haired friend nodded in agreement.

"Yea, why would anyone like _him_ need a second chance, we all know he's going to blow it." Tristan commented and Joey nodded, both of them looking at Akefia with complete disdain.

He kept the mask on, looking at them nonchalant, but their words, _Tristan's_ words had hit a nerve. But he'd be _damned_ if he would let those _fools_ see it though.

"If you had any idea what he had gone through back in Ancient Egypt, then maybe you would understand why this is being done now."

To everyone's surprise, it was _Ryou_ who spoke. Quiet, shy and timid Ryou who was now _standing up_ for his former tormentor. No one said a word, no one knew exactly _what_ to say in the few seconds after he had spoken, Joey was stunned to silence, but Tristan finally found the words, looking at Ryou cautiously, wondering if Akefia had done something to _make_ him speak that way.

"How can anything have been so bad that you would want to _destroy_ the whole world?" His gaze was on Ryou, whose own gaze was on Akefia, giving him a questionable look; _would he talk about it_?

Those dull violet eyes gaze back at him, looking rather cold and Ryou _barely_ suppressed a shudder when Akefia spoke, looking directly at Tristan. "Perhaps when you have seen everyone you _care about_ _slaughtered_ for some magical _trinkets_ , then see the rest of your village _massacred_ to keep the deed a _secret,_ then you can speak to me about that. Until then, I would advise you _both_ to keep your mouth's shut about _my past._ " His glare on the pair was filled with cold fury, that he had to remember that past, even though it had happened so long ago, he stood up and left the sitting area.

"Akefa, we're sorry," Tea called after him starting to stand up and almost followed him out of the room, although Joey and Tristan looked shocked by what they had now learned, they didn't look apologetic in the least and right now Akefia wasn't in the mood to forgive so quickly.

" _Sorry_ doesn't remove the fact that my _family_ are gone, _sorry_ doesn't stop the hate I _still feel_ towards those who thought it was _fun_ to murder a whole _village_ , sorry Tea..." Akefia turned to look over his shoulder at her and she froze. "Doesn't stop the sounded I _still hear_ …" He trailed off, he saw the horror in her eyes, the sympathy, sadness, pity, helplessness and he closed the door behind himself. He moved away to lean against another wall, trying to focus, to push those _memories_ out of his head.

This proved what he had already known to be true, he couldn't be around Yugi's friends, but he also knew that he couldn't mope around his room either, that would make it worse, the memories would return and he didn't need that. The one thing he could do was go and see if he could help Mr Mutoe - the old man had tried to get him to just call him Grandpa, but given that he reminded him so much of a former Priest in his last life, he was unable to form the words on his lips.

He walked out to the front of the store, where he saw a few open boxes and a rather exhausted old man looking inside them, before he spotted the Egyptian walked in.

"Ah Akefia, I don't suppose you are wanting to work on the floor?"

Those were the exact words he had been wanting to hear. To everyone's surprise, particularly Joey and Tristan, he was rather good at dealing with customers. He found that if he put a somewhat _Ryou_ persona on, people appreciated him advice and would comment on how friendly he was, and how his advice was so helpful for them winning duels. It was also an added bonus that he was able to deflect fans of Yugi out of the store, though his loosely Ryou type of persona would disappear should these fan's be more stalker-ish in their approach. Though Yugi and his Grandpa didn't approve to begin with, they soon realised that a firmer approach was needed otherwise they would break in to just see Yugi up close.

Akefia smiled, thankful that there will be _something_ for him to do, to take his mind off of the past; "Of course, there isn't much for me to talk about it there," He glared at the closed door, although Yugi's Grandpa knew what he had been through, he never spoke of it to anyone _but_ Yugi, he didn't want Akefia to feel like he was intruding in his personal space, or his past.

"It's not the most thrilling of jobs, but I need these cards organised, they have just arrived," The old man explained gesturing to the few boxes on the floor and Akefia nodded.

He was fine with organising the cards, in fact he rather enjoyed it, it was a bit of a perk to work alongside the pair of them in this case. He got to see new cards that no one else had seen before, and it also meant that he had a _slight_ advantage in duelling too, that added perk was that the old man would sometimes let him take some cards for his own deck, although Akefia still paid for them, he didn't want to get cards for free, he wasn't wanting to bankrupt the old man, even though Yugi argued with him about that, but in the end he always won. Because they _needed_ money, it was the only way to survive and Akefia _knew_ how much these cards he was given cost, he wasn't going to bite the hand that fed him after all.

"That's fine, though aren't we going to be closing soon?" He asked, looking at the large group of customers who were looking around and wondering if he should usher them out.

"It's a Thursday, late night closing," He reminded him with a chuckled and Akefia cursed under his breath, Thursday nights meant that _Joey_ would be staying over; "Is something wrong?" He looked over at him in concern and Akefia shook his head.

"Nothing to worry about," He turned and walked over to the boxes, opening up a cupboard and bringing out a clipboard to make it easier for him to check things off in this delivery of cards. He picked up one box and brought it to the counter, so he could check them off _and_ serve customer's at the same time instead of having the old man do all the work.

He had been impressed by the old man, for someone so old he still knew his stuff, at times he found they had started talking about the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids and the traps that had been made to keep thieves out. Although he wasn't exactly the _best_ person to talk to, the age gap between them was _huge_ ; thought Yugi insisted that it wasn't due to the fact that he had been trapped in the ring for centuries, he personally felt that it was actually due to Akefia being in his early twenties that caused the problems. Though he and the old man knew better, with the man trying to broach the subject of the past a few times now, but he just wasn't ready to talk about it.

He looked through a few of the cards, spotting some that he knew he would need to save up for, and then he saw other cards that he knew Yugi _and_ Joey would get good use out of in their own decks. As much as Joey and Tristan with their comments, he couldn't exactly _blame_ them, he wasn't the nicest person before, it didn't help that Zorc was mainly in control, he was in a sense like Ryou, just being used, just a tool, but the difference was that he _wanted_ this to happen, he wanted to be used to get revenge. He served customers as he put the cards into different stacks, for different areas of the counter's that he knew Yugi was trying to get his Grandpa to revamp, to make the cards look a bit more appealing to people who were new to the game. He then spotted a rather unlikely customer and he braced himself, before he remember that Kaiba didn't believe in any of that nonsense like reincarnation, or _magic_ , and that it was highly likely that Kaiba would have no clue as to who he was, if Akefia played it right, he would hopefully remain ignorant of that fact.

He put on the voice that was similar to Ryou's own, to sound rather meek, like he wouldn't hurt a fly. "How can I help you sir?" he asked as the rich teen walked over to him, like a man on a mission.

Those blue eyes looked around the store before landing on him, coldly he spoke; "I'm looking for Yugi,"

It was clear that Kaiba had either ignored to old man, or didn't see him. Either way it didn't matter; "I'll go get him Akefia," The old man nodded briskly at Kaiba before going through the back.

Those blue eyes returned to look at Akefia once more, "I thought that it was just the old man and Yugi working here, when did they hire you?" It was clear that Seto was questioning him, only Akefia wasn't too sure as to _why_.

However the Ancient Egyptian relaxed, this was nothing compared to what he had done in the past. "I've been here for a month now, with Yugi being so well known in the duelling world, it was thought that they should hire someone else to help with the store,"

He scoffed; "And the _mutt_ didn't want to be in the shadows,"

It was a clear dig at Joey, though he didn't care for it, it was a bit _bland_ for his tastes, and besides he was still annoyed at the idiot. "I suppose he's a bit busy trying to scrap a somewhat _feasible_ grade in school,"

There was a slight chuckle, Akefia was aware that he had made a decent impression on the rich teen, with a nod he moved back to his place and continued to organise the cards, when he heard Yugi come out, his friends following him, although Akefia easily ignored him, focusing himself on the cards, though he still kept an eye and ear out for the customers who came up to the till, although when someone did he found it was his former host.

The former thief looked at the boy, noticing that he had no cards in his hands to buy - and he already was fully aware that Ryou wasn't really a _fan_ of Duel Monsters - so why had he come over to him? "What are you after?"

"The… the other's are busy talking to Kaiba," Ryou glanced over at them quickly, to make sure they were indeed still talking to Seto, before looking at his former tormentor. "I wanted to talk to you… alone?"

Akefia scoffed, continuing with his work. "Well I am doing this strange thing called _working_ , some might even say that it's an _honest_ profession," he wasn't feeling like being polite right now, Ryou wasn't interested in buying anything and he didn't wish to bring up the past, he was busy and he wanted to get this box finished before they closed, though he was fully aware that the old man wouldn't mind, but he found that he liked to have at least one part of the task he was given done completely.

"Then tomorrow night, you could come round for dinner?" Ryou asked, sounding jittery and looking over his shoulder to the other's again.

He snorted; "If it makes you feel better and will stop you from bothering me, _fine_ ," Akefia didn't want to go, but he would, to get away from this place for a while and to see what Ryou actually had to say.

It seemed to be the right thing to say, as Ryou smiled, still nervous of course, and moved away not before informing him of the time to be at that apartment.

When everyone had left and the shop closed, the four of them were left and had dinner in the kitchen, with Yugi catching his Grandpa and Akefia up on what Seto was talking to him about.

"Kaiba was saying that there is going to be another tournament coming up," Yugi looked pointedly at the grey haired man sitting next to him and his Grandpa while Joey sat directly across from the Ancient Egyptian.

Akefia ignore the look as he ate his noddles while Joey spoke up; "And why did he feel the need to come in and tell you? Surely the shop would have gotten fliers in?"

Grandpa and Akefia looked at each other, and the former thief grinned. "Because he wanted to give you fair warning that he would be taking _back_ his title," He chuckled at the thought. Seto was now so used to how the Pharaoh battled, but he didn't know Yugi's, and as he had learned during his battle against Yugi in the Memory World, he was indeed a force to be reckoned with.

"Yea? Well there's no way he'd gonna be able to defeat you Yugi," Joey assured his friend, who smiled at the encouragement.

Akefia nodded in agreement; "All the same..." He spoke up and the two duellists looked at him, unsure what his next sentence would be and Joey looked weary, however the thief looked over at the old man who smiled and nodded.

"Ah yes, the cards that we got in today might be able to give you an advantage, you should always take time to revamp your decks." he advised them and glanced over at Akefia to continue on.

"I found a few cards that would work well for _both_ your decks." he admitted, noticing that Joey looked stunned, he refrained to add that he hadn't gotten through _all_ the boxes, but that information alone would help them in the next tournament.

"Really? That's nice of you Akefia, you didn't have to do that." Yugi smiled at him, though the older man was fully aware that he was touched by that, the man who used to make life so difficult for him and his friends clearly wasn't as bad as he used to be. "Are you… are you going to enter?"

Such an innocent question shouldn't have caught him off guard, especially since he had spoke to him about it before, yet it did all the same. It also appeared to have caught Joey off guard too, who never gave much thought that he would enter.

Akefia glanced at the three of them before answering. "Whatever for? My deck isn't complete and I wouldn't be able to get far without my most powerful monsters." He brushed it off, although he longed to duel someone again, it had been fun, until it had gotten rather serious, like when he face the Pharaoh or Malik's evil side, but the other duels? They had been enjoyable.

Yugi noticed that Joey shivered in fear at the mere _mention_ of the creature's that Akefia and Zorc had used in Battle City, and he had to admit, they _were_ scary monsters but they were effective for what they were wanting, even though Atem was able to defeat them in the end. "I bet we could build up a deck here!"

He glanced at the younger boy, an eyebrow raised. "I have my own _personal_ monsters that I require." He was blunt now, though Yugi knew why, he _understood_. Akefia's favourite monsters weren't exactly _easy_ to find, in fact the one who had one particular monster was Ryou, and he wasn't sure how likely it was for Akefia to ask his former host to give him his deck.

They moved on to another subject, and when dinner was over, Akefia felt thankful that Joey actually spoke to him sometimes during the meal, usually it was a discussion about Duel Monsters, though later he left the room to go to his room, wanting a bit of solitude for the rest of the night, unaware that the old man was watching him, and followed him after a few minutes of getting Yugi and Joey to clean up.

He knocked on the door. "Akefia?"

The former thief had picked up a book to read before he officially retired for the night and looked at the door. "Come in." It felt odd saying those words, which shouldn't have been the case, but during his time with Ryou, who had no one around him and this was so… _polite_ that he wasn't sure how he should feel about it. He was sure that he had never been polite in Ancient Egypt… Or maybe he had been, as a child, before it all happened, now? Now he was finding he had to relearn a few things to fit into the modern world.

As much as he enjoyed the old man's company, regardless of him briefly reminding him of the priest from way back, he now wondered what he was up to. He didn't normally come up here to talk to him after dinner.

The old man came into the room. "You know there are plenty of monsters…"

Akefia bit back a growl, the old man meant well, he knew that, but he had hoped the conversation was _over_ after dinner; "I _know_. But that one… that was from my past," he didn't wish to talk about it, but between Yugi and the old man, he would take the latter, at least there was less of a risk of Yugi's friends learning the truth. "Diabound was with me through it _all_ , Diabound was the reason how I managed to make it so far…" he trailed off, but the old man understood.

"I see, perhaps you might be able to speak to Ryou about it? I noticed the pair of you talking briefly earlier,"

The priest from the past wasn't one he dealt with often, if at all really, and he had very little involvement with the old man, until he welcomed him into his home, but he noticed that he was shrewd, it was no wonder he was good at hunting down Egyptian treasure, how he managed to make this store last for as long as it had, even though other card shops were popping up and trying to entice Duellist in the buy the cards _there_ instead, but they didn't have the knowledge like _he did_ , and it helped that his grandson was the 'King of Games'.

He smirked over at him, "He wanted to talk, so I won't be here for dinner tomorrow night."

Akefia also saw that he had a great poker face, he couldn't even get a hint as to what he was thinking. "Just try not to be too hard on him,"

There was a clear warning there, he was well aware of it, yet even with that knowledge it didn't make him bristle as it might have done before, when he was still combined with Zorc.

Perhaps he would need to seriously consider if he actually did want to join Yugi and Joey in this up coming tournament, or if he should simply stay as a mere bystander.


End file.
